A FORMER Cranleigh police officer has been convicted by an Australian jury of murdering his wealthy wife of just six months out of “sheer greed”.

Desmond Campbell, 52, was found guilty at the court in Sydney of pushing his 49-year-old spouse, Janet, off a cliff while on a camping trip.

The verdict, at the end of a four-week trial, came as no surprise to people who knew him during his time in Cranleigh.

A known womaniser who was described as a “cad” during the course of the trial, Campbell suddenly quit Surrey Police and left the country while being investigated for misconduct in 1998.

He had emigrated to Australia with his parents as a child but returned to the UK in the mid-1990s.

He joined Surrey Police in June 1995 and served as a constable in Cranleigh until July 1998, when he resigned, eventually returning to Australia.

A Surrey Police spokesman explained that officers were not only subject to the criminal law but were also bound by strict discipline regulations.

“At the time of Campbell’s resignation he was under investigation for misconduct under these regulations, but there was no evidence of any criminal offences. His resignation ended the investigation,” the spokesman said.

“When the dreadful crime in Sydney was reported to us by the police, we co-operated with them fully, providing any information that was available."

Those who knew Campbell while he was stationed in Cranleigh said his attitude made him unpopular with colleagues and members of the public alike.

It is believed he only avoided a misconduct case because of his sudden resignation and departure from the country.

"Deliberately pushed"

Debt-ridden Campbell was working as a paramedic in New South Wales when he met wealthy divorcee Janet Fisicaro in early 2004.

But despite, as the jury was told, describing her as “pig ugly” and a “fat, ugly, dumb bitch”, the couple married that September.

During the trial it was revealed that in the year they were together Campbell had a series of adulterous relationships, even going on holiday with one girlfriend a week after his wife died.

Her death occurred during a camping trip in a national park south of Sydney.

Campbell, who erected their tent just 35ft from the edge of a cliff after a 45-minute trek through dense bush to reach the remote location, told police his wife had disappeared after going to the toilet.

Her body was later found at the foot of the 170ft cliff.

“He deliberately pushed her over the cliff – he was in debt and had no intention of living a normal life with Janet Campbell, who was besotted with him,” Mark Tedeschi QC, prosecuting, told the Supreme Court at the start of the trial.

“His only purpose in marrying her was to obtain money from her.

“Having obtained a very substantial amount of money from her, he no longer had any further use for her and he needed to dispose of her.

“The Crown alleges the motive for this killing was sheer greed for money.”

Experts agreed that a partial shoe print found at the edge of the cliff suggested Mrs Campbell, a novice camper who was scared of heights, had either tripped or been pushed, but the court heard that for it to have been an accident she would have had to have been walking briskly straight towards the edge.

Campbell did not give evidence during the trial.

Jurors found him guilty by an 11-1 majority after deliberating for six days, during which time they also returned for a second look at the murder scene.

Campbell had been on bail throughout the trial but was taken into custody once the jury started its deliberations. He will remain behind bars and faces a life sentence when he returns to court in July.